Toronto Maple Leafs 6 @ New York Rangers 3
Date: October 12, 2014
Maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs just needed to get out of Toronto to get their game in order. The Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 6-3 at Madison Square Garden tonight because they played with speed and with the puck, dominated on special teams and got a solid performance from James Reimer. Basically, they beat the Rangers for their first win of the season because they did everything they didn’t do well enough in losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins at Air Canada Centre.
Leafs were even good enough to chase Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist from the game late in the second period. Lundqvist allowed six goals on 24 shots before he was replaced by Cam Talbot with 4:47 to play in the period. Toronto scored five goals on Lundqvist in a span of 9:54 in the second period to take a 6-2 lead.
Reimer, making his first start of the season made 24 saves before leaving with 13:17 to play in the third period. He was hit in the head by Rangers center Dominic Moore while reaching for the puck at the side of the net. Bernier replaced Reimer, who still picked up his first win since April 3 — which was after Toronto lost eight in a row to fall out of the Stanley Cup Playoff race in the Eastern Conference.
Reimer said he’s fine and that he didn’t want to come out of the game, but he had to. “We have protocols to come out; err on the side of caution, I guess. I was feeling good and I felt like I was stopping pucks, but our trainer’s job is to ensure the safety of the players and enforce the protocols in place.”
Toronto’s first-line wings van Riemsdyk and Kessel, without a point in the first two games, each scored a goal and combined for five points. Kessel’s goal came on the power play. van Riemsdyk scored his on a shorthanded breakaway.
Defenseman Cody Franson, who didn’t play in the first two games because of a knee injury, got Toronto started with a power-play goal at 7:45 in the first period. He added an assist.
Carlyle: “Franson’s goal was a big goal that got us going, it was nice to see him come back and make a contribution and you win. All of those things are positives.”
Toronto was 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, along with van Riemsdyk’s shorthanded goal. The Leafs were 3-for-8 on the power play in their first two games, but they allowed three power-play goals to the Penguins in a 5-2 loss Saturday.
Toronto also got goals from Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri and David Clarkson, who scored his first of the season.
In building a 6-2 lead through two periods, Toronto had a 30-23 advantage in shots on goal and 46-42 edge in total shot attempts. The Leafs were outshot 41-25 and out-attempted 71-52 by Pittsburgh. They were outshot 32-27 by the Canadiens in a 4-3 loss this past Wednesday.
Other Notables:
- Leafs scored five goals in one period for the first time since January 7, 2011, when they found the back of the net six times in the second period of a 9-3 win at ATL.
- The Leafs also recorded six goals in a road game for the first time since February 9, 2013, when they posted a 6-0 victory at MTL.
- The line of Kessel (1-2—3), Bozak (1-1—2) and JvR (1-1—2) combined for 3-4—7, including the game-winning goal (by JvR).
- Kessel now has 8-11—19 in 28 career games versus the Rangers, including 6-8—14 in 16 contests at Madison Square Garden.
- Bozak found the back of the net for the third consecutive game and now leads the Maple Leafs with 3-1—4 this season. His three-game goal streak is the first such run of his NHL career (299 GP).
- JvR scored his third career shorthanded goal and 18th career game-winner. His other two shorthanded tallies came last season: October 30 at CGY and March 1 at MTL.
- Rookie defenseman Stuart Percy picked up an assist for the third consecutive game.
- Cody Franson added 1-1—2 in his season debut.
- Leo Komarov (0-2—2) posted his first career multi-assist/point game.
Links:
* Thanks to Jeffler for these
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